There are myriad tips and suggestions in the media for
sticking to your resolutions, but the key to long-term success when it comes to
health is small incremental changes that
“stick”and become habit, not radical, unsustainable diet or training
regimens. When it comes to New Year's resolutions, there's a good chance you've
set your sights too high.
What’s the
alternative to lofty health and fitness goals? Simple: adapt your goals and lower your expectations. If
your goal was "to lose 20 pounds," and your new diet and workout
regimen fails by Valentine's Day (or sooner), DO NOT browbeat yourself or
engage in negative self-talk. The diet and fitness industry is successful in
part because, statistically, people FAIL repeatedly and continue buying into
the latest fad diets and exercise gadgets/programs in search of the magic
solution.
What actually
works?Again, it’s simple: small changes
that become habit. Instead of eating a muffin or cereal (most are highly
processed) at breakfast, switch to steel cut oatmeal and fruit, OR pack a
healthy, balanced brown-bag lunch on Mondays, Wednesdays, and Fridays. Go for a
twenty-minute walk every day, OR join the yoga class at work. Pick ONE of these
changes and stick with it religiously for two full weeks or until it feels like
a part of your routine. Then add another healthy habit, but only one and not until you've mastered the first change, for
another full two weeks or until this second change, too, feels like second
nature.
At this point, you may notice that you feel different enough
to WANT to continue with these baby steps toward a healthier lifestyle, or you
may want to stop with the one or two small changes that you’ve already made.
Either way, you've established habits that will provide you with significant residual and cumulative effects
over the long-term. Instead of seeing results for a few short weeks (or
even days) following a fad diet that's doomed to fail (again, statistics prove
this and the diet and fitness industry counts on it), changing one or two small
things mean you'll achieve results that you'll still be able to see and feel
NEXT December and beyond.
Good habits and healthy living are catching, IF you start
with small and sustainable changes.
“A journey
of a thousand miles starts with one step," ~ Lao-tzu, author of the Tao Te
Ching
